NEED Curriculum

National Energy Education Development Project (NEED)

RiverWorks Discovery® in partnership with the National Energy Education Development Project (NEED) provides National Science Education Standards-based formal curriculum to engage and educate youth (intermediate and secondary grade levels). The curriculum focuses on the role that rivers play in transporting energy sources across the country. The curriculum and its activities are designed to encourage critical thinking and scientific inquiry. The NEED curriculum promote STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) as seen through the lens of America’s rivers.

Learning exercises are built into the curriculum, teaching students how to calculate the energy in flowing water, or how to analyze transportation options to find the most economic and environmentally efficient way to ship products. By providing opportunities for scientific inquiry, the NEED curriculum can show students the value of observation, investigation, testing models or creating experiments.